ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND JUNE 28, 29- In this June 3, 2014 photo, wildflowers bloom in the median along north U.S. 17, north of DeLand, Fla. Florida Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad is encoraging counties to curtail their mowing programs in areas where wildflowers are growing along roadways statewide. The department has set a goal to trim its mowing program, hoping to save $1.3 million a year. (AP Photo/Daytona Beach News-Journal, Peter Bauer)(Photo: Peter Bauer AP)

Florida state highway officials are finding more than just scenic beauty in the colorful wildflowers blanketing local roadsides.

A recent study for the Florida Department of Transportation by a University of Florida researcher concluded green areas along roadways present a host of advantages and potential cost benefits. Based in part on that study, the department has set a goal to trim its mowing program, hoping to save more than $1.3 million a year, with an eye on further reductions depending on the program's success.

Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad has asked all the districts, including the one that covers Volusia and Flagler counties, to reduce roadside mowing programs by 10 percent and to look for areas where wildflowers are already naturally blooming and allow those roadside gardens to flourish by carefully timing roadside mowing programs.

Even though there had been a few previous attempts to promote roadside wildflowers, roadside vegetation "had never been seen by the department as a benefit," said state transportation landscape architect Jeff Caster.

Roadsides were seen "as a liability rather than an asset, something the department needs to perpetually control and keep from protruding into the road," said Caster, who oversees maintenance of the green areas along roadsides statewide.

But over time, that attitude has changed and a new approach is taking shape, he said.

The recent study by George Harrison, an economist with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, was arranged at the urging of the Florida Wildflower Foundation. "There's value to this landscape and they mow it down," said the Foundation's executive director, Lisa Roberts. "We feel like if we could show there was value they might see a value in keeping it."

Roadsides can be "managed so that it's not a weedy mess and then we reap the benefits," said Roberts.

Using formulas and estimates from studies elsewhere in the nation, Harrison concluded the 93,000 acres of state highway rights of way that are covered in plants are worth more than a half-billion dollars a year, in terms of runoff reduction, carbon storage and pollination.

When the findings were presented to the department, Caster said they were fascinated. The department had never looked at the environmental benefits, he said.

The study also showed the value could increase significantly with only "modest changes" to the way roadsides are managed, using more sustainable management practices such as reductions in mowing, Caster said.

The department spends about $13 million a year on mowing along its 12,079 miles of highways, the study reported.

"For every 10 percent we reduce mowing there's a potential to save more than $1 million a year," he said. Just increasing the number of days between mowing from 30 to 33 eliminates one mowing cycle.

Caster said the department will start with the 10 percent reduction and monitor that for a couple of years to see if there are any negative impacts.

The department doesn't want the roads to be unkempt, Caster said. "It's important that the roads look well maintained."

But the switch from 30 to 33 days between mowing "probably wouldn't have a negative impact," he said.

It was also suggested the districts consider the effects of concentrating the efforts to reduce mowing in areas where wildflowers grow naturally, Caster said. "We would save money by reducing mowing and end up with more wildflowers, which everybody seems to be enjoying.

"Every spring and every fall, Florida has this natural show of wildflowers. We get a lot of credit but nature is doing the work. It just happens to be on our land."

The department has had mixed results with previous attempts at wildflower programs, struggling to get some areas to bloom in subsequent years and a lack of buy-in, he said.

The department's first wildflower program -- developed 10 years ago -- met "great resistance" internally, he said. The new policy, "written with a whole new attitude" is designed to get results.

"We are really just at the beginning of something really exciting," he said.

"It's a little bit of choreography," he said. "You have to figure out the right time to mow and the frequency of mowing."

Mowing has to wait until after wildflowers bloom and produce seeds, so the mowers can help distribute the wildflowers' seeds, he said. But without mowing the rest of the year, the wildflowers would be shaded out by other plants.

As an incentive to help the districts get focused on the reduced mowing and wildflower production, supervising maintenance engineers were told that any money saved wouldn't be taken away but could instead be used on other things that needed attention.

"We're trying to make money available for their highest priorities," Caster said.

With the study in hand, Roberts said the Wildflower Foundation hopes to work with counties and the department to lobby for management that will keep the roadside ecosystems more natural, she said, adding beauty and providing more habitat for bees and other important pollinators.